How to Wash a Horse's Tail

Lead your horse into a wash pit or have someone hold him while you wash his tail. First, turn on the water and let it heat up. The water should be a medium temperature -- not too cold, not too hot. Once the water has reached the desired temperature, you will need to soak the horse’s tail. Start at the bottom and work your way up to the dock. This will make it much easier to ensure that all the hairs get wet. Once the whole tail is wet, start at the dock and work your way down, squeezing a moderate amount of the water out.

Pour a generous amount of shampoo into the bottom of the bucket, then fill the bucket up with water until it is about halfway full with a balanced amount of suds and liquid. Hold the bucket up and dunk your horse’s tail into it, then swirl the tail around a bit. Remove the bucket and place it out of the way on the ground. Massage the shampoo solution into the tail, trying to get it as clean as possible. Once you have done the main part of the tail, it is time to clean the dock and upper part of the tail.

Pour enough shampoo to fill your palm and rub it onto the top of your horse’s tail where the bone (otherwise known as the dock) is located. Cleaning the dock thoroughly is the equivalent of cleaning your scalp, so this is a very important step. Really massage the shampoo all around the top and bottom of the dock, removing any dirt that has become caked onto it.

After you have cleaned the entire tail, rinse every bit of suds and soap out of it. Rinse, squeeze out the suds, then repeat a couple of times.

Once the suds have been rinsed out, you will need to apply conditioner to your horse’s tail to soften and untangle it. Pour a liberal amount into the tail and rub it in all around. Be careful not to put too much or too little — this will take experience, but to start, use about half a cup. Once you have covered the entire tail with an even amount of conditioner, you should leave it in for a few minutes to maximize its effectiveness. Then rinse out the conditioner completely.

The last step is to dry the tail. Take your horse outside and let her graze, even if the sky is not sunny. The fresh air, sun or wind will dry the tail. Since this is a very slow process, you can speed it up by taking the top of the tail in your hand and swinging the rest of it around (somewhat like a lasso), sending heavy water droplets flying. After wringing out a lot of the moisture, take a small section of the tail in your hand and comb or brush out the tangles, letting the hairs fan out as you do so. Eventually, the tail will dry, and it will already be brushed and manageable.